Method and system for capacity planning and configuring one or more data storage systems

• US 7,392,360 B1
• Filed: 08/13/2004
• Issued: 06/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: EMC Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Gueorguiev, Dimitar Petkov, Meiri, David, Goguen, Kenneth R., Aharoni, Dan, Wei, Xiaoyan
• Primary Examiner(s): Bragdon; Reginald G.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dinh; Ngoc V
• Application Number:
  US10/917,753
• Time in Patent Office: 1,411 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 711/170
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3419 by assessing time
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3442 for planning or managing the needed capacity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3457 Performance evaluation by simulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3485 for I/O devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/885 Monitoring specific for caches
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0629 Configuration or reconfiguration of storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0653 Monitoring storage devices or systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

This invention is a system and method for determining configuration or simulating performance of one or more data storage systems. This invention may be used in many useful ways including for configuring or modeling a data storage environment, problem isolation, and general design.

Claims

1. A method for determining a configuration for a data storage system based on input related to the data storage system in a data storage environment in which a source data storage system replicates data to a target data system asynchronously, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving utilization or response time data related to one or more source data storage systems that replicate data to the target data system asynchronously, wherein the data storage systems include data storage disks;

receiving performance characteristics of work performed on the data storage disks of the one or more source data storage systems; and

determining a configuration for the source data storage system and a recommended link bandwidth between the source and target using the utilization or response time data and performance characteristics of the data storage disks.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration determined can be re-determined based on varying the recommended bandwidth value and re-determining the configuration.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the determined configuration includes a recommended amount of cache for the source data storage system based on the utilization or response time data and performance characteristics of the data storage disks.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determined configuration includes a cycle time for asynchronous replication to the target.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the determined configuration includes a cycle time for asynchronous replication to the target.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the re-determined configuration includes a recommended amount of cache for the source data storage system based on the utilization or response time data and performance characteristics of the data storage disks.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the determined configuration includes a cycle time for asynchronous replication to the target.

8. The method of claim 1, including a step of determining a configuration for the target data storage system using the utilization or response time data and performance characteristics of the data storage disks on the target.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein the data storage environment includes a plurality of source data storage systems and a plurality of target data storage systems, and the determined configuration includes a cycle time for asynchronous replication to each target from each source data storage system, and the determined configuration for each source data storage system is based on the cycle time which is identical for each link between each target data storage system and each source data storage system.

10. A program product for determining a configuration for a data storage system based on input related to the data storage system in a data storage environment in which a source data storage system replicates data to a target data system asynchronously, the program product including a tangible computer readable medium with computer-executable program code configured for causing the following computer-executed steps to occur:

receiving utilization or response time data related to one or more source data storage systems that replicate data to the target data system asynchronously, wherein the data storage systems include data storage disks;

receiving performance characteristics of work performed on the data storage disks of the one or more source data storage systems; and

determining a configuration for the source data storage system and a recommended link bandwidth between the source and target using the utilization or response time data and performance characteristics of the data storage disks.

11. The program product of claim 10, including a step of determining a configuration for the target data storage system using the utilization or response time data and performance characteristics of the data storage disks on the target data storage system.

12. A system for determining a configuration for a data storage system based on input related to the data storage system in a data storage environment, the system comprising:

at least one source data storage system;

at least one target replication data storage system, wherein the source data storage system replicates data to the target data system asynchronously

a computer having a memory and a display;

computer-executable program code operating in memory, wherein the computer-executable program code is configured for execution of the following steps;

receiving utilization or response time data related to one or more source data storage systems that replicate data to the target data system asynchronously, wherein the data storage systems include data storage disks;

receiving performance characteristics of work performed on the data storage disks of the one or more source data storage systems; and

determining a configuration for the source data storage system and a recommended link bandwidth between the source and target using the utilization or response time data and performance characteristics of the data storage disks.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the configuration determined can be re-determined based on varying the recommended bandwidth value and re-determining the configuration.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the determined configuration includes a recommended amount of cache for the source data storage system based on the utilization or response time data and performance characteristics of the data storage disks.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the determined configuration includes a cycle time for asynchronous replication to the target.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the determined configuration includes a cycle time for asynchronous replication to the target.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the re-determined configuration includes a recommended amount of cache for the source data storage system based on the utilization or response time data and performance characteristics of the data storage disks.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the determined configuration includes a cycle time for asynchronous replication to the target.

19. The system of claim 12, including a step of determining a configuration for the target data storage system using the utilization or response time data and performance characteristics.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the data storage environment includes a plurality of source data storage systems and a plurality of target data storage systems, and the determined configuration includes a cycle time for asynchronous replication to each target from each source data storage system, and the determined configuration for each source data storage system is based on the cycle time which is identical for each link between each target data storage system and each source data storage system.